Multichromatic supercontinuum polarization shaping applied to photoelectron holography

Abstract

Abstract We present a supercontinuum pulse shaping method specifically designed for the generation of polarization-tailored multichromatic femtosecond laser fields. By combining a 4f-polarization pulse shaper with a custom-made polarizer kit, we independently modulate different spectral bands of a white-light supercontinuum in amplitude, phase, and polarization. The scheme is highly modular, scalable to any number of bands supported by the input spectrum and aims at the physically motivated design of specific laser fields tailored to the relevant transitions and dynamics of the quantum system. The power and versatility of the scheme is showcased in three different scenarios based on atomic multiphoton ionization employing polarization-tailored trichromatic pulse sequences. (1) We demonstrate the creation of an f x ( x 2 − 3 y 2 ) -type free electron wave packet and reconstruct its 3D momentum distribution by a waveplate-free shaper-based photoelectron tomography technique. (2) We utilize the holographic properties of the wave packet to study time-resolved and phase-sensitive ultrafast dynamics of bound states. (3) We investigate the field-free time-evolution of a photoelectron wave packet in the continuum. Our results on an atomic model system demonstrate the great potential of the modular shaping scheme for a wide range of applications on more complex quantum systems, including polyatomic molecules, nanoscopic structures and solids.